Sojourners in Mexico with U.S. School Experience: A New Taxonomy for Transnational Students

Abstract

Millions of students attending U.S. schools were born in Mexico, as is well known, and many millions more are the American-born children of Mexican parents. What is less widely known—and less considered in educational research, policy, and practice—is that there are likely hundreds of thousands of students in Mexican schools who have previous experience in U.S. schools. There are many school-age children involved in the transnational movement of peoples between the United States and Mexico. Among those currently in Mexico (typically regarded as a sending country rather than a receiving country), most expect to return to the United States someday, although not necessarily permanently, and they variously identify as Mexican, Mexican American, or American. This suggests that the prospect of enduring geographic mobility affects the complicated work of identity formation and affiliation. Central to this negotiation are Mexican schools, which, like U.S. schools, are not deliberately designed to consider the needs, understandings, and wants of an increasingly international, mobile population. One purpose of this article is to build an understanding of transnational students from